We Are Living in a Distractible World and I Am a Distractible Girl

I wish this was me trying to be funny or something but, alas, that just happened. Seriously.

I’m not sure if this means I desperately need the book or it would be a bad fit because the author can’t hold the attention of his target audience long enough to buy his book.

In my defense, it’s a fairly lengthy description.

And I’m not always that easily distracted but… Ooh! Shiny!

When there is a lot going on (there is) and stuff keeps piling up on top my head (it does), I get overwhelmed then become easily distracted.

This got me thinking, as these things do, and now I’ve completely lost it and am in some deep philosophical discussion with myself about metaphysics and if the phone is actually ringing and if I’m even real.

So that’s the deal with my life right now. How are you?

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

How do you focus with all the distractions out there? By the way, should any of you lovely readers like to check the book out, the link is up there and it’s called Deep Work. I (obviously) haven’t read it but Sacha Black recommends it. 🙂

Ah. The voice of reason. Are you really this carefree? I mean, are you a super laid-back person or do you just play one on TV? I’ll try to go with the flow but I’m afraid I’ll be swept away with the current. (Love Peter’s sketch for this post! Thanks, again, for that lovely gift. He’s so talented.)

Isn’t it awesome? Look on the fridge, over the calendar: Peter Le Pard 🙂
There is always too much going on. Sometimes there is more on top of the too much. That’s when I get easily distracted. I hope things settle down, too! Don’t know how long I can keep this up. Hope things are manageable on your end.

Hi Sarah. My comment about the Le Pard stable was in response to seeing Peter’s name over the calendar. Any relation to Geoff?
There is always far more to do than I have time for. I never catch up. Give me another lifetime or two, please!
Look after yourself. Accept distractions as part of reality. Accept all that is wonderful you.

Distractions happen and I’m actually coping with this a bit lately. Not happy about it, but it is what it is. Here’s to shiny! lol. I think I’m coping with a bit of the same and this week tried a couple of different things to have a with and without methods to concentrate. The difference was ridiculous and the things that helped for me were minimal. Sat at a different area in my work area, literally moved 3 feet. Left the phone far from me and set a timer. Made a list of to-dos with time assigned. The day I did this, I got through 11 important tasks, plus my day job work. Winged it another day… it didn’t go well lol. So it just means I have to super focus rather than being the default setting. Best of luck and here’s to focus and happiness.

Ugh…the dreaded list of things to do. I have a post I just finished that’s going up in a few days about that. I hope you can visit next week and tell me how they work for you. You know, sometimes the most minor changes help. I should focus on those. Ten minor things instead of two major ones. Or will those ten things just be another set of distractions? 🤔 I try the focusing techniques and wind up winging it because…distractions. Calls, emails, kids, work, emails, texts, blogs, emails… Yup. Here’s to focus and happiness. May we find both.

Will check out that post and see if it helps. 😀 And it all depends on the week. Mixing it up and finding my winning formula is the battle. Not half the battle. THE battle. To focus and happiness indeed.

Much the same, I fear. Maybe worse, because–brace yourself–it only gets worse as you get older! At 73, I’ve made this an art form. But in my defense, I always get back to my original task, thought, goal, or destination. Not always the same DAY, you understand, but I’m willing to settle for eventually. 😀

Noooo. Really? I don’t want it to get worse. Can I wish it away? Can I stomp my foot and demand it gets better as I get older? This is not good news, Marcia. Except that you always (eventually) get back to the task at hand. 🙂 That’s promising. Sort of…

Now you’re talkin’. You just need to adjust your expectations a bit, that’s all. Distractions are fine. Life would be boring without the shiny bits. So, I say enjoy them, then get back to what you were doing before they caught your eye. If you can remember what that was, of course.

Lists help. I make LOTS of them. Then I cross things off as I get back to them, OR (and this is more typical) cut and paste them under another day. 😀

Distractions, cool. Expectations, annoying habits that set us up for disappointment. Who needs ’em?

Oh no. Lists… I have a post on those bloody things for this weekend. Hope you can help with some ideas. You know, I really should differentiate distractions from expectations. Then we throw responsibilities into the mix and we’ve got ourselves a mud pie. (Not the chocolate kind…)

There really are so many things screaming at us. Everything needs our attention. And it’s just not possible. Someone made a similar comment about focusing on the important things. That requires letting go of a lot of other things screaming for our attention… I’ll try. Thanks, Lisa.

You have this way of making me get all philosophical with your questions. Am I distracted? Am I I multi-tasking? I’ve always said I can NOT multi-task. I suppose I meant I can’t do it well. That doesn’t mean I’m not doing it. And you’re spot on with having lots of open projects. Plus life. 😖 It’s… *spots acorn* *runs away*

You know, I did that for a few weeks and, I’m not sure about distractions, but I remember being happier in general. There must be something to that. Don’t know why I stopped but time to start that again. Thanks, Icy.

I busted out laughing at your opening paragraph! Laughed again at your third. Seriously, if someone is going to target a distracted audience…holding attention matters! Did I tell you, I got a house! And chickens…! No, I don’t have chickens, but the place we are renting is next door to free range chickens and I’m going to be mightily distracted. What were we talking about? 😀

Pomodoro technique helps me focus and also take physical therapy breaks so I can stretch or walk every 25 minutes. I use my phone timer: Pomodoro Technique And I turn it off when I want to get lost in writing and not be interrupted by a timer.

Ha, ha! I also use this as physical therapy. I break up my exercises and every Pomodoro (via cell phone timer) I do a portion of sets, stretches or yoga breaths. Which bears mentions again how much that yoga book you once sent me had helped. It has the right amount of adjusted moves that I can do! Look! Chickens doing yoga!

Reminds me of when I had difficulty getting through Peck’s “Delaying Gratification” section of “The Road Less Traveled” because I kept putting it down to read something more fun! Great post, nice to know I’m not al… oh, look!

The distractions have really hit hard in my writing. It’s “I want to kill this character” but wait! I need redo this event first. And in the middle of redoing that event, I decide I need to write something else to clarify issues early in the story… and look, that character is still alive. Doh.

Things never really calm down in Sarahland. When one thing is taken care of, another takes its place. 😜 Ah, distractions in writing. That’s a whole new post! Yes, I can see that. (And it sounds wicked frustrating.) My issue is more that I get distracted from one project and start working on another. Hope things calm down at the Townsend and you get to kill someone. Erm…your character, that is.

It works for me. If I keep fighting a distraction, it stays in my mind and I can’t concentrate. If I just do whatever it is, or at least make a note of it if it’s a really long task, then I can just go back to my writing and concentrate for a while. 🙂

This is so us…. had to chuckle (and pass it on as a “Guest Post”)…..
Now what was I saying? Oh, yes…..Hubs and I will often say to each other.
“Weren’t you going in to do {fill in the blank}?”
The other would reply by saying….”Saw something shiny.”

Haha! “Saw something shiny.” 😀 I get it but do love that response. When someone forgets to do something around here, that’s what we’re going to say now. It makes the situation less annoying, more amusing. Thanks for sharing!